Monday, February 27, 2006

Dodging the foul weather blowing in from the Pacific Ocean, the second race of the CCCX series was held in almost perfect conditions this weekend. Not wanting to miss another chance to race on the coast, I drove down Sunday morning.

This was my first ride on the Fort Ord course and I have to say I was impressed. The course is about five miles of mostly rolling singletrack with a few road cross sections. And it was fast. The majority of the climbs were short, with long sloping, twisting descents. I wouldn't have called it technical, but at race speeds it got pretty hairy on the hardtail. The majority of the course was dit, but there were a few small patches of sand -- not deep, but a little tricky. The drizzling of rain about halfway through the race really made for ideal traction. The field was split about 50/50 on hardtail and full suspension bikes. I think that a Specialized Epic or Santa Cruz Blur XC would have been perfect on this course.

I have to say the organization and crowd for the race was one of the best I have ever seen at a local race series. In fact, the crowd was almost on par with some of the regional or NORBA events. Think cowbells. And it certainly drew the competitors. There were over one hundred competitors just in the Sport division -- and the race was fast. Certainly a good quality field.

While the course and organization were top notch, sadly my riding didn't match up. In fact, you could say I got completely w0rk3d. I knew I was in trouble from the opening sprint as I was accelerating uphill at about 23 MPH and I was completely dropped off the back of the pack. Reaching into my handy bag of excuses, I will play the "my #1 bike was in the shop" (due to some Juicy 7 bleeding repairs), "I was unfamilar with the course" (a tried and true standby) and "My legs were stiff from the 3 hour ride down to the coast".

The race will cover approximately 10 miles of fire roads (85%) and singletrack (15%) on the Olmstead Loop in Cool, CA (six miles south of Auburn, CA). Begineers will do one lap, sport two laps and expert/pro will do three laps. Singlespeed, Clydedales, tandems and expert women will do two laps. As the promoters warn, "the course will be muddy."

The ride is capped at 425 riders. Awards will be given three deep and the expert/pro purse starts at $200. Race registration starts at 8 AM (you can also checkin the day before at Auburn Bike Works) and the pre-race meeting commences at 10:30 AM. Awards and prize raffles will be held immediately after the race.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Saturday: The first gravity event of the season is P&R Sports Mountain Cross kickoff of the Sandhill Spring Series. The race is located at Sand Hill Ranch just north of Livermore, CA. Signup and practice for the races begin at 8 AM, while qualifying starts at 10:30 AM. This is a NORBA sanctioned event (so bring your license or pay the one day fee). Registration is onsite for $30/race. Parking is an extra $5. While this race is mountaincross (MTX), the next race in the series is dual slalom (DS).

Sunday: The second race of the 2006 CCCX Mountain-Bike Race Series will be held at Fort Ord’s East Garrison in Seaside, CA (north of Monterey, CA). The course is described as “laps will be between five and six miles … 3 laps for Beginners, 4 laps for Sport, 5 laps for Expert/Pro.” The race costs $30 ($15 for juniors) with registration onsite. Racing begins at 9 AM, 11:00 AM or 1:00 PM depending on your division. Please note new starting times and arrive early to register.

It looks like our cold snap is mostly gone and I don't think the rain should move in until next week, so it looks like a great weekend for racing.

Through the space age technology of Wayfaring and Google Maps, the team here at NorCal MTB Racing is proud to present the 2006 NorCal MTB Racing Events Map. On one simple map, you can now see how close all (okay, maybe just "most" right now) the 2006 racing events are to your home.

Riders may compete in the Nationals if they meet all of the following criteria, with the exception of # 3 if the discipline does not require a rider to qualify prior to the USA Cycling National Mountain Bike Championships:

They are United States citizens (riders may be asked to show proof of citizenship at race registration).

They are current annual NORBA members

They have qualified through a NORBA State or Regional Championship, an AMBC event, the NORBA National Mountain Bike Series (NMBS), a USA Cycling Junior Development Regional Mountain Bike Camp, Alison Dunlap Junior Olympic Mountain Bike calendar event, or defending United States National Champions or winners of the 2005 USAC National Competitions (Beginner and Sport) in the class, category, and discipline in being contested at the 2006 National Championship competition.

Riders must qualify by July 17, 2006 to be eligible for this year's Nationals. Riders who qualified in late summer events in 2005 (after Aug. 1, 2005) will also be eligible to compete.

The National Mountain Bike Championships will be a weekend-long event to determine the United States National Mountain Bike Champions Junior age classes, Junior Expert, Expert, U23 (men cross-country only), Semi-pro, and Pro in the following disciplines: Endurance (cross-country, short track, marathon (100k), and single speed) and Gravity (downhill, mountain cross and Super D).

Last year, you didn't need to qualify for the Marathon event. I like how they lumped cross-country into the "Endurance" category. Check out the full press-release here.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

While I am not even going to lie and say that I got up on this frigid morning to ride in the MTB Challenge 2, I will say that the results have been posted at TBF Racing: Race Results. Hey, it was 39F and raining when I got up this morning :)

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Okay, so this isn't directly related to Northern California moutain bike racing, but my old hometown of Pacifica is near and dear to my heart, and NorCal could always use some more biking venues.

Pacifica, California bicyclist are organizing to create a bike Park for the city. They've created a website to organize information and supporters at http://www.pacificabikepark.com/. The site will have news and info about the status of the park, as well as links to all the great bike sites and shops.

The next city meeting on the proposal is on Tuesday, February 21, at 6pm at the Pacifica Community Center. It would be cool if any NorCal MTB Racing readers in the area could help out on this effort.UPDATE (3/2/06): This URL seems to have gone dark on us.

Friday, February 17, 2006

The Sea Otter Classic folks produced a new press release yesterday. The biggest news to come out is that new course maps have been posted. The new course maps are quite detailed, with both overview and turn-by-turn PDFs, as well as MotionBased enhanced ones. I think that the overall XC course map (even if it profiles the two lap Expert/Pro course) and the MotionBased interactive maps are both stellar. In fact, the MotionBased maps even allow you to export the course to Google Earth. The press release used this blurb to describe the new course:

Sea Otter’s Director of Athlete Services, Jeff Frost talks about the new course, “we’re excited to work with the Bureau of Land Management to develop this exciting new cross country race loop. This loop offers so much that Sea Otter traditionalists have come to love and offers many new exciting challenges - uphill technical singletrack, more passing from the start of the race, and a downhill to the finish!”

MotionBased has an entire page for all the Sea Otter courses (DH, Tour, Road, etc.) and a commentary on the XC course. For those of you wondering, the XC course is 17.41 miles and 3256 feet of elevation per lap plus 2 miles around the starting track. Begineer/Sport will do one lap, while Expert/Pro will do two laps. More details on the race are available here.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

This weekend marks the repeat of the first weekend of mountain biking with the folks from TBF Racing:

Saturday: Chanoko MTB Duathlon #2 will be held on February 18th at Folsom Lake Recreational Area (near Granite Bay, CA). The duathlon is a 2-mile run, 10 mile mountain bike and another 2 mile run race through the park grounds. The course is relatively flat with some rolling hills and singletrack. You can check out the course map here. The race cost $45 until race day when it rises to $55. You can register online at the active.com website. Registration opens 6:30 AM with racing at 9:00 AM.

Sunday: MTB Challenge #2 is be held on the same grounds (Folsom Lake Recreational Area in Granite Bay, CA) with a slightly different course map. Depending upon your division, you will be doing 1, 2 or 3 laps of the 10 mile course. The race is $40 (rising to $50 on race day) and you can also sign up at the active.com website.

Also remember that there is a $6.00 fee for parking within the Recreation Area. It looks like our early spring weather is definitely over for a few weeks -- forecast for Granite Bay this weekend is for highs in the low 50s and rain. Crap.

Monday, February 13, 2006

What a complete change from the NorCal season opener in Granite Bay: sunny skies, a dry course and a warm breeze. Due to the unusual heat wave gripping Northern California, CCCX #1 felt like a mid-April race rather than a early February one.

CCCX.org has posted a fewphotos and the results for their first race on their website. The next CCCX race is scheduled for Sunday, February 26th.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

From the Yreka, CA, a town so far north it is almost Oregon, comes the 2006 Humbug Hurry-Up. Scheduled for Sunday, June 4th, the race will be held in Greenhorn Park just west of town. The course is described as "2000 feet of climbing per lap" with "each lap is 12 miles long with 65% of the course being singletrack on a north sloped forest." Riders will do one to two laps depending on their category.

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Note from the editor: I am turning over the blog today to my brother and guest blogger, Brian. You can see his blog daily over at Defensive Belligerence. This is a followup from the earlier Cycleops Fluid2 review.

Two weeks ago, I received the CycleOps Mag Trainer, a magnetic resistance trainer, in the mail. Since the Midwest is still in the thralls of winter, and I have not been able to ride as much as I would like, the CycleOps trainer was a welcomed sight.

The Mag trainer is an entry-level model in CycleOps line, which relies on a magnet with five setting to provide resistance. The Mag trainer has a manufacturer suggested price of $159.99, and comes with a lifetime limited warranty. For about $20 more you can purchase the Mag+, which includes a bar-mounted remote-shifter that allows you to adjust the resistance. Like the other CycleOps trainers, it comes with the Chris Charmichael "Time Trail" DVD.

Putting together this trainer was a snap, though the instructions could use some better illustrations. In particular the illustration for the L-bolt, which moves the resistance unit, could definitely use a different viewing angle to better illustrate how to install it. Once the base unit was put together, it was simply a matter of swapping out my rear wheels quick release with the one supplied with the trainer, and then mounting my bike in the trainer. Altogether, this took around 15 minutes.

Most of today's high-end trainers go to great lengths to simulate the resistance you encounter when riding a bike. With it's non-progressive and light flywheel, the Mag feels more like riding an exercise machine in the gym than like pedaling on the trail. In addition, it's loud enough, that you will probably need to turn up your TV. With all that said though, the Mag is definitely worth purchasing if you want a stable and reliable trainer for a reasonable price.

Both races will be held in Angel's Camp, California [ MAP ] which is south of Sacramento and East of the Bay Area. Both races appear to be XC affairs operating under NORBA sanctioning. I'll post more info as it becomes available.

I've added the Downieville Classic dates (July 28th - 30th, 2006) to the calendar. These dates are still not 100% confirmed but they are looking very likely. July is looking like a great month for racing: Cougar Mountain, NORBA Championships and Downieville are scheduled for three consecutive weekends.

I'll be posting details of the Firestone Classic later this week. Although it is not really NorCal, I am a sucker for the Central California coast and might just have to use this race as an excuse to go for the weekend.

NORBA has updated their website for 2006. It looks like they added another race to the early schedule: NOVA Desert Classic (outside Phoenix, AZ on March 24 - 26, 2006). Strangely enough, only the Marathon portion of the event is part of the NORBA schedule (they also have XC and Super D).